Abstract
The extrema of the Ginzburg-Landau free-energy functional for p-wave pairing is studied. Using an algebraic and geometric language, the general equation is written for an extremum and study the distinction between inert and non-inert solutions of this equation. Inert critical points of the quartic free-energy functional are shown to remain critical points even if certain higher-order terms are present. A new non-inert critical point is given in analytic closed form. The necessary conditions for the inert critical points to be local minima of th quartic free energy are obtained.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: